Take it one pound at a time:

Don't get overwhelmed by how much weight you need to lose. Just take baby steps in right direction and you'll be amazed at your progress when you look back. You didn't gain your weight overnight, so it will take time to lose it all.

Weekly weigh in:

Only measure your results and weigh yourself once a week to give your body time to make adjustments.

Share your journey:

Find a friend to lose weight with and become each other's coach. Check in several times a week to help each other stay on track.

The scale is not final word:

Don't get discouraged when your progress seems to be slow according to your bathroom scale. Instead, measure your results with a tape measure-it will give you much more reliable and encouraging feedback.

Shop when you're full:

Only shop for food when you are not hungry to avoid buying foods you may regret later.

Set reachable goals:

Carbohydrates aren't all good or all bad. Some kinds promote health while others, when eaten often and in large quantities, may increase risk for diabetes and coronary heart disease.

What are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates come from a wide array of foods - bread, fruit, vegetables, rice, beans, milk, popcorn, potatoes, cookies, spaghetti, corn, and cherry pie. They also come in a variety of forms. The most common and abundant ones are sugars, fibers, and starches. The basic building blocks of all carbohydrates are sugar molecules.

The digestive system handles all carbohydrates in much same way - it breaks them down (or tries to break them down) into single sugar molecules, since only these are small enough to absorb into bloodstream. It also converts most digestible carbohydrates into glucose (also known as blood sugar), because cells are designed to use this as a universal energy source. This is why carbohydrates can make us feel energetic. Carbohydrates fuel our body. Your body stores glucose reserves in muscles in form of glycogen ready to be used when we exert ourselves.

Carbohydrates are highest octane - most desirable fuel source for your body's energy requirements. If you don't have an adequate source of carbohydrate your body may scavenge from dietary protein and fat to supply glucose. The problem is when you've depleted your stores of glycogen (stored glucose in muscle and lean tissue) your body turns to burning muscles or organs (lean muscle tissue) and dietary protein or fat to provide blood glucose to supply energy needs. When this happens, your basal metabolic rate drops because you have less lean muscle tissue burning calories and your body thinks its starving and cuts back on energy requirements.

So you should continue to eat carbohydrates discriminately selecting those which have greatest health benefits.